Policy Statement

The University of Georgia complies with Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requirements
to withhold federal tax from employee pay checks. Each employee must submit an Employee's
Withholding Allowance Certificate (Form W-4) to be used to determine the amount of
federal tax to be withheld.

Reason for policy

The University of Georgia must comply with IRS requirements to withhold federal tax
from employee pay checks

Procedures

Except for those certificates on which "exemption from withholding" (defined below
in “Definitions”) is claimed, a Withholding Allowance Certificate remains in effect
until such time as it is revised by the employee or by specific IRS instruction (IRS
“Lock letter”). Certificates on which "exemption from withholding" is claimed expire
on February 15 of the following year and must be renewed in order for an employee
to continue with the exempt status. An employee who fails to provide a withholding
allowance certificate to the Payroll Department will have tax deducted as a single
individual claiming no withholding allowances, in accordance with IRS guidelines.

Forms/Instructions

Additional contacts

Policy definitions

Exemption from Withholding: No withholding is required from an employee if the employee anticipates that he/she
will incur no federal income tax liability for the current taxable year and he/she
incurred no such liability during the preceding taxable year. The exemption must be
claimed on line 7 of Form W-4 (Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate) and must
be renewed annually.

If another person can claim the employee as a dependent on his or her tax return,
the employee cannot claim exemption from withholding if his/her income exceeds $950
and includes more than $300 of unearned income (for example, interest and dividends).

Student status does not automatically exempt an employee from federal income tax withholding.
Additional detailed instructions are found on the Form W-4.

Responsibilities

Responsible University Senior Administrator: Vice President for Finance & Administration

Responsible University Administrator: Associate Vice President for University Business and Accounting Services

Record Retention

Explanation: This series documents amounts withheld by Payroll from employees' checks for taxing
authorities. This series may include but is not limited to: the Statement for Claiming
Benefits Provided by Section 911 of the Internal Revenue Code; Withholding Allowance
Certificates (W-4s); Earned Income Credit Advance Payment Certificates (W-5s); Non-resident
Alien Request for Exemption from Tax Withholding (IRS Form 8233); Alien Information
Request Form; and Request for Exemption from State Income Tax Withholding. Individual
forms may include employees' names, addresses, social security numbers, and tax identification
numbers.